I plan to leave my mark on the baseball world; this is where it all begins.

Extended Spring Training

The first rule about extended spring training is you don’t talk about extended spring training.

Just kidding, but it’s not like people talk about it, anyway. You have to do some persistent digging to come across a Minor League Spring Training or Fall Instructional League schedule; but I have yet to come across an extended spring training schedule.

I was able to gather some useful information: Weekday games typically start at 1:00 pm; Saturday games typically start at 10; and Sundays are off-days. The key word here is “typically.”

Game times are subject to change, which I found out first hand on Saturday. It’s lucky that I insist on getting to the fields around 9 am despite the fact that I know that all the players do is stretch and throw for what seems like an hour.

This stubbornness saved me from being insufferably late, and I arrived at the Twins complex with enough time to be treated to my fix of stretching and throwing.

Extended Spring Training is essentially the same as regular spring training, except there are far fewer players. The players who populate the lineups are likely ticketed for Short-Season Lowell, the Gulf Coast League, or the Dominican Summer League.

There were two games on Saturday, but it was a bit more difficult to garner with whom each lineup was affiliated. For what it’s worth, here were the lineups:

The most interesting name in this lineup is Mark Wagner. Wagner, a ninth round pick in the 2005 draft and former top-catching prospect in the Red Sox Organization has spent the last few weeks in extended spring training. The catch: he’s healthy.

Wagner was on the 40-man roster, but was designated for assignment to make room for Michael McKenry, whom the Red Sox got in the Daniel Turpen trade. (Turpen was selected by the Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft. He did not remain on the 40-man roster, so he was returned to the Red Sox, and they traded him to the Rockies organization).

I spoke to Wagner briefly after the game. He is very polite, and he had a good attitude about everything. He said that he was just playing games, but I got the vibe that he didn’t really know what his status was with the organization. There is really no room for him at this point in the organization. Christian Vazquez and Carson Blair are in Greenville; Dan Butler is the primary catcher in Salem; Ryan Lavarnway and Tim Federowicz are splitting time behind the plate and as the designated hitter in Portland; and Exposito and McKenry are splitting time in Pawtucket.

If anything, I think Wagner is a guy that some of the younger catchers can talk to.

I picked a great day to go because I was able to see Jennel Hudson take the mound for the first time in two years. He has been plagued with arm injuries for the past two seasons, and has been recovering from Tommy John surgery.

His father, Frank, was at the game, and I found out that Jennel has taken a rather unique path. He didn’t actually play baseball in high school or college. He played little league, but not at a young age.

He only threw one inning because it was his first time facing live batters in over two years. He faced four batters in the first inning; though the first batter would have been out had the defense made the play.

He threw 14 pitches, nine of which were for strikes. He hit his second batter, but it seemed like his concentration was broken because of the runner. Obviously, I’m not too concerned with his command or anything like that because it’s his first start in two years. The only reason I included his strikes/pitches ratio was because it was so impressive. I just wanted to see him throw; but the fact that he was throwing a lot of strikes was encouraging.

Jason Garcia piggy-backed Hudson, and he threw at least five innings (I don’t have the exact number because I was walking back and forth between the fields). It seemed like he was leaving the ball up in the zone a bit because hitters were tagging the ball when they hit it.

Garcia was kind enough to speak with me after the game, and the interview will be up on the SoxProspects website within the coming weeks. I knew this before, but talking to him extensively confirmed my thoughts on him. At this point, I couldn’t care less if he gives up one run or 14. He was a guy that dominated in high school: he could miss his spot and hitters couldn’t catch up to it. But Garcia is adjusting to a completely new level; he is more evenly matched. Hitters will take advantage of his mistakes now, and he has to learn how to adjust, which he will. He has already added some velocity to his fastball, and he is very coach-able.

Henry Ramos, a fifth round pick in 2010, injured his knee when he crashed into the fence trying to make a leaping catch in center field. He didn’t get back up, and he was carted off the field. He had an ice pack on his left knee, and he was limping for the rest of the day. The trainers kept mum about the injury, only telling me stuff I already knew: “he crashed into the fence and injured his knee.” At this point, I don’t know the extent of his injury, but SoxProspects’ Jon Singer reports, “his knee is swollen, but it looks like he avoided a major injury.”

A couple of other notes from the hitting side now:

Xander Bogaerts is going to emerge onto a lot of people’s radars this year. He plays shortstop, and he is absolutely fantastic defensively. In the Dominican Summer League last year, he hit .314 with an on base percentage of .386. One thing I was a bit skeptical of was his swing. It seemed like he wasn’t following through, and that he was almost stopping short.

Garin Cecchini seems like he has really good mechanics, and he has a solid swing. He waits for his pitches, but he isn’t afraid to be aggressive. In his first at-bat, he launched a stand-up triple, which was nearly an inside the park home run. In his second at-bat, he hit a deep fly ball, which was caught, on the first pitch he saw. I feel like his mechanics are good enough for Greenville, but I don’t blame the Red Sox for taking it slowly with him considering he didn’t see pitches for a year after tearing he ACL. I think he is really going to impress a lot of people in Lowell this year.

Trygg Danforth, a 49th round pick, possesses a lot of power potential, but the mechanics aren’t fully there yet. He has a really big swing, and he doesn’t keep his hands in. Nevertheless, he connected for a home run.

I noticed a similar issue with Beau Bishop, who was signed as a catcher out of New Zealand. Interestingly enough, he was playing third base. I wonder if the Red Sox are considering switching him to an infielder.

Speaking of Oceania, I had the pleasure of meeting Brad Tippett, an Australian native and a pitcher in the Twins organization who is currently rehabbing. He had a nerve problem in his arm, and he ended up having to get a rib removed. He had pitched well in the minor leagues so far–compiling a 3.04 ERA over the last five seasons–and is now hoping for a spot to open in the Fort Myers Miracle, the High-A affiliate of the Twins.

One more thing in general that I noticed. At this level, outfielders don’t know how to read trajectories yet, so they have really odd approaches to fly balls. At the upper levels, outfielders have to be able to read and adjust to the spin on the ball, but these guys are still developing that skill.

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